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Introducing Our Work

On Participatory Environmental Monitoring (PEM)

Por Environmental Governance Programme (EGP)

The demand for minerals is growing because of population growth, economic development, and the ongoing transition to a world economy that is less dependent on fossil fuels. This combination of factors is causing an unprecedented increase in the demand for many critical transition minerals, such as bauxite, cobalt, copper, lithium, and nickel.

In response to growing mining activities and their environmental and social impact, numerous communities are demanding their rights to participate in decision- and policy-making to prevent and mitigate adverse environmental and social impacts that mining may cause. The most harmful effects in this regard are often experienced by more vulnerable groups, such as women, traditional and indigenous communities, youth, ethnic minorities, and rural and remote villages.

Participatory Environmental Monitoring (PEM) enables local communities and other stakeholders, including marginalised groups to collect information on the state of the environment and to apply data to hold governments and companies accountable.

PEM thus has the potential to raise stakeholder involvement in the implementation of environmental laws and regulations while at the same time empowering local communities and advancing a rights-based and sustainable response to the challenges of mining.

PEM is an integral pillar of the joint Swedish Environmental Protection Agency-UNDP Environmental Governance Programme (EGP) and the support that it offers to programme countries. Civil society, government counterparts and other essential stakeholders have expressed the need for increased support in designing, applying, and sharing PEM tools, tactics and lessons for different needs and contexts.

On this page, you will find the following sections:

What is PEM?
Our Work
EGP Stories of Change
EGP Learning Hub Report
PEM Regional Report
Video: Environmental Monitors in Peru
EGP Workshops
EGP Blogs
Contact Us

1. WHAT IS PEM?

PEM covers a range of approaches that aim to:

Develop the capacities of local communities to actively monitor environmental problems and concerns that affect them and feed the data - whether it is collected by communities, companies or other actors - into the decision- and policy-making processes; and
Ensure a particular focus on empowering marginalised and vulnerable groups, often women, youth and indigenous peoples.

PEM approaches originated in Latin America, a resource-rich region whose communities have been impacted by mining for centuries and where extractive industries also play a significant role in economic growth, infrastructure development and poverty reduction.

Key stakeholders that have promoted PEM approaches include:

Local communities impacted by mining;
Environmental and human rights defenders;
Civil society organisations;
Local, regional, and central government ministries and agencies; and
Mining companies and industry associations.

Environmental monitors navigating the Ushpayacu pond, located in the Pastaza River basin in the Department of Loreto, Peru. Photo credits: UNDP Peru/Bruno Camara Rojo & Susan Bernuy.

2. Our work

The EGP supports countries in strengthening community-based environmental monitoring of mining activities, including supporting PEM committees and other similar mechanisms and supporting legal reforms and institutional development that help anchor PEM approaches in the national and local governance systems.

Our objective is to help communities and individuals exercise their rights to access to information, participation, and justice in social and environmental matters related to mining activities.

This website section offers an overview of the programme's PEM work with national, local and community partners in Argentina, Colombia, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Mongolia, and Peru, and learning resources and publications related to PEM. Our dedicated PEM channel on Microsoft Teams & SharePoint offers key stakeholders a space to connect and exchange knowledge and lessons from PEM work across different settings and countries, seeking to foster a community of practice. EGP country teams and partners are invited to access this learning channel. New members and guests can request access via this online form.

PEM committee in action in Huarmey, Department of Ancash, Peru. Photo: UNDP Peru/Bruno Cámara Rojo.

Regional Workshop on PEM in Latin America and the Caribbean Region, held in Panama City in October 2018. The workshop was organized by UNDP, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, and the Canadian International Resources and Development Institute.

Traditional herders and environmental monitors are attending Mongolia’s National Workshop on PEM, held in Ulaanbaatar in November 2021. Photo: UNDP Mongolia/Ariunbileg Raadna.

3. EGP Stories of Change

The governance of the mining sector increasingly relies on rights-based principles such as transparency, accountability, and meaningful participation to forge better outcomes in terms of environmental sustainability, inclusive economic development, social justice, and sustained peace.

ARGENTINA

Argentina: Promoting Indigenous Community Participation in Environmental Monitoring

KYRGYZSTAN

Promoting Environmental Protection through Community Engagement

Kyrgyzstan: Promoting Environmental Protection through Community Engagement

LIBERIA

Unleashing the Power of Citizen Participation in Mining Governance

Liberia: Unleashing the Power of Citizen Participation in Mining Governance

MONGOLIA

Promoting Community Participation in Mining Governance

Mongolia: Promoting Community Participation in Mining Governance

PERU

Peru: Women's Leadership in Protecting the Environment in Communities Impacted by Mining

4. EGP LEARNING HUB REPORT

1st PEM Learning Hub (May 16, 2022)

Key Messages:

PEM has the potential to aid governments, communities, and companies in promoting more inclusive and responsive governance of the extractive sector in general and, more specifically, the mining sector. PEM can deliver results towards improved environmental, social, and human rights outcomes in the mining sector.
The EGP has kicked off a collaborative process for developing an evidence-based Global Guidance Note on PEM, anchored in the needs, experiences and tools of practitioners at the country level. The Guidance Note will be co-designed with EGP Country Teams and partners in Argentina, Colombia, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Mongolia, and Peru. The Guidance Note will be rooted in tangible examples from across regions on how to work with a broad range of stakeholders, including government agencies, companies and communities.
During the meeting, the EGP launched a new PEM channel on Microsoft Teams & SharePoint. It seeks to offer a one-stop-shop for continued learning, sharing experiences and insights from PEM implementation at the country level, and serving as a critical space for co-developing the Global Guidance Note. New members and guests can request access via this online form.

Read the Workshop Report

Introducing Our Work

5. PEM REGIONAL REPORT

Participatory Environmental Monitoring Committees in Mining Contexts: Lessons from Nine Case Studies from Four Latin American Countries

This publication identifies the contexts in which PEM initiatives prevent and mitigate environmental degradation and empower communities impacted by mining. It was developed in partnership with the Canadian International Resources and Development Institute and published in 2019.

Read the report in English and Spanish.

Introducing Our Work

6. VIDEO: Environmental Monitors in Peru

Environmental monitors are protecting their territories and helping prevent socio-environmental conflicts in the Peruvian Department of Ancash. Listen to the voices of women leaders incorporating gender and human rights approaches into their work.

This video was prepared by UNDP Peru and presented during the 1st PEM Learning Hub on May 16, 2022. To show subtitles, click on ‘CC-Closed Captions’ and select your preferred language in ‘Settings/Auto-Translate’.

7. EGP Workshops

Introductory Learning Workshop on Environmental Legislation in Mining between Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia (September 28, 2022)

This workshop enabled mining governance stakeholders from Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia to exchange information on the status and enforcement of the environmental legislation and explore further exchange and collaboration between the two countries. The workshop included a dedicated session on PEM in Mongolia and community monitoring in Kyrgyzstan. This exchange will be a stepping stone for follow-up collaboration between the two countries on PEM.

READ THE WORKSHOP REPORT

Workshop on Participatory Environmental Monitoring in Mongolia (March 26-27, 2019)

This workshop was organised with UNDP Mongolia and the Government of Mongolia to sensitize the participants to the benefits of PEM and showed the added value for all partners involved: national, provincial and local environmental authorities, civil society and the private sector.

Involving citizens in the environmental monitoring tool to reduce environmental risks and social conflicts. Participatory environmental monitoring gives citizens and communities voice and power to influence decisions that affect their lives and their future.

READ THE WORKSHOP REPORT

Participants of the 1st Introductory Workshop on Environmental Legislation in Mining between Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia, held in September 2022. Photo: UNDP Kyrgyzstan/Jooweon Hwang.

Bayarsaikhan Namsrai, head of Mongolia’s Steps Without Border NGO, attending PEM Workshop with environmental monitors and traditional herder communities. Photo: UNDP Mongolia/Ariunbileg Raadna.

8. EGP Blogs

9. CONTACT US

The EGP is a global programme jointly implemented by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and UNDP since 2014, supporting resource-rich countries in integrating environment and human rights into the governance of the mining sector. Programme countries include Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Mongolia, Namibia, Peru, and Zambia.

The EGP is funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

EMAIL: kundtjanst@naturvardsverket.se

WEB: WWW.ENVIRONMENTALGOVERNANCEPROGRAMME.ORG

Footnotes

Cover photo: EGP-supported workshop for the reactivation of the network of PEM committees of the Ancash Region, which brings together 7 committees and approximately 30 environmental monitors. Photo credits: UNDP Peru.

FootNotes

Cover photo: EGP-supported workshop for the reactivation of the network of PEM committees of the Ancash Region, which brings together 7 committees and approximately 30 environmental monitors. Photo credits: UNDP Peru.

© 2026 Environmental Governance Programme (EGP)

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